Anyone know how to replace a/c compressor clutch?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

The clutch is siezing on my 951's a/c compressor (doesn't turn freely) but there's still freon circulating in the system. That, coupled with the fact that the car smells like burning clutch whenever you kick the a/c on seems to validate this diagnosis. Anyway, I need to replace it.

There's a nut that appears at first glance to hold the pulley / clutch assembly; it screws onto a threaded shaft that runs lengthwise down the long axis of the compressor. Removing the nut alone does NOT allow me to remove the clutch / pulley assembly. There are threads on the inside of the countersunk "hole" in the pulley to accomodate the nut, which leads me to believe some sort of weird special tool is required to screw onto the threaded shaft and simultaneously onto the pulley to "unscrew" or "back" the pulley off the compressor shaft. Is this correct? Anyone know what kind of tool it is and where to get it? I sure hope this isn't another $600 Porsche tool that I'll use maybe 3 times in my life. . .

[Wolf1]

You are correct.....You will need a tool for this.

However, I don't think its a Porsche specific puller. A standard a/c hub puller should do the trick.

[VINMAN]

I pulled mine off with a regular hub puller. are you sure the compressor is good too? I found out the hard way after changing the clutch on a car then found out the comp was causing the clutch to go bad.

[AFJuvat]

You remove that nut (12mm) preferably with an impact wrench (yeah, it is that tight).

The clutch plate pulls off at that point. In the center of the hub, there are a few snap rings that hold the pulley to the compressor. after you remove those snap rings, the pulley should lift off fairly easily.

AFJuvat

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Thanks guys - yea, I'm pretty sure the compressor is okay. The pulley is clearly the thing that's bad. I suppose the compressor COULD be bad too, but there's freon in the system so it has no leaks AFAIK. The pulley (with the belt off) feels like it's binding and makes a hint of a metallic noise, almost like there's a bad bearing or rusted bushing in there somewhere. Looking at the picture above, I see no bearings, so I can only assume there was foreign object or rust damage to where the pieces rotate against each other.

I'll be ripping into it this weekend and I'll let you know how it all works (or doesn't) out. Also, FWIW it's possible to remove the nut with a regular ratchet; it helps to have an assistant hold either the pulley or wrench though (a vice might work if you're working solo).

[ae1969]

Let us know how this goes........... I may have to tackle this in the NA right away........

How much are the parts for this anyways??? I guess after 200K miles I should be happy it lasted this long.